POLLEN, PHYTOLlTH, AND MACROFLORAL ANALYSIS AT THE HUECO TANKS STATE HISTORIC SITE, 41EP2, TEXAS

Summary

Pollen and macrofloral samples were collected from areas of midden deposits at the Hueco

Tanks State Historic Site, 41EP2, in west Texas. The site was divided into 29 archaeological

localities to provide convenient units for analysis and management. Time-diagnostic artifacts from

these localities indicate that Hueco Tanks was occupied primarily during the Formative period (A.D.

200-1450), although one Paleoindian (10,000 to 6000 B.C.), several Archaic (6000 B.C. to A.D.

200), and a few Historic occupations (1850s-1950s) also were present. The site contains 11

prehistoric water control structures, over 160 rockshelters, numerous bedrock mortars and bedrock

metates, an abundance of rock art, 125 burned rock features, and nine human burials. Pollen and

macrofloral analyses are used to provide information to help answer questions of settlement and

subsistence, including (1) gathering information on diet through time, (2) estimating the degree of

sedentism, and (3) exploring the role of agriculture. In addition, one corn cob was examined for

phytoliths to obtain a numeric signature that will be comparable to a growing data base of shape

factors designed to provide information concerning race of maize.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• PaleoResearch Institute

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